Global warming would increase global ocean temperatures causing accelerated melting of the Arctic and Greenland ice sheets. This melting would cause an sharp increase in freshwater being released which could greatly affect the thermo-haline circulation of the ocean system. This could alter the feeding patterns and life cycles of photosynthetic algae, causing a decrease in krill populations which feed on them. This krill decrease could adversely affect humpback whale populations, which we all know thanks to Star Trek, are ancient sentient beings that extra terrestrials communicate with and are generally concerned about. So, global warming means less humpbacked whales which leads to angry aliens. These angry aliens are probably feeling the hit from the recession as much as we are, so instead of sending some costly probe or wasteful spaceship, they just hurl asteroids at us to show us they mean business and aren't happy about the whale situation. Thankfully their aim was off a bit, probably due to an error in converting meters into quatloos, or whatever their version of the empirical system is...so we've dodged a bullet. For now.

Global warming has increased the earth's magnetic field by 3.2% over the last 10 years*. It is not unreasonable to believe that that increase could attract larger objects such as meteors, asteroids, Golden Corral patrons.

I_Am_Weasel:Global warming has increased the earth's magnetic field by 3.2% over the last 10 years*. It is not unreasonable to believe that that increase could attract larger objects such as meteors, asteroids, Golden Corral patrons.

Yep. It is because of global warming. The Earth is getting warmer, and everyone knows that hot air rises, because it gets lighter when warm. Now, there is no air in space so heat does not rise. However, it does radiate, and the biggest source of heat in the solar system is the Sun, and its heat radiates outwards. So, since the earth is now lighter it is drifting further away from the sun, and this has pushed us closer to the path off this asteroid. Not much of a big deal because this is a small one and it will miss us. But, within a few decades, if global warming keeps up, we could be pushed into the asteroid belt, and without a massive Bruce Willis cloning program there is no way we could survive that many asteroids.